Mrs. Rogers Rejects School’s Offer : ‘Completely Inadequate,’ Teacher’s Attorney Maintains

The wife of Vincennes skipper Will Rogers III has told administrators of La Jolla County Day School that their contract offer seeking her return to the classroom is “completely inadequate” and instead is demanding immediate reinstatement as a fourth-grade teacher.

In a six-page counter-proposal to the private school’s offer, Sharon Rogers also insists that she receive five years’ pay if she is removed from the school beginning next September because administrators cannot assure the safety of the campus.

One source said that, because Mrs. Rogers has been a teacher at La Jolla Country Day for 12 years and the faculty salary range goes from $20,000 to $40,000 a year, the five-year compensation could go as high as $200,000.

School administrators have not allowed Mrs. Rogers to teach on the campus since March 10, the day her van exploded while she was driving to work. The incident is under investigation by federal authorities seeking to determine whether it was a terrorist bombing in retaliation for her husband’s order aboard his guided missile cruiser to shoot down an Iranian jetliner over the Persian Gulf last summer.

She and her husband have been removed from their home and are being provided protection by the military at an undisclosed location. She could not be reached for comment Thursday.

The Times first learned of the contents of the counterproposal Thursday from a source within the school administration. Later in the day, The Times obtained a copy of the written counterproposal from a source outside the school.

Mrs. Rogers was dismissed from the school shortly after the van explosion. Her counterproposal comes in response to two separate contracts recently offered her by school administrators.

One contract from the school would allow Mrs. Rogers back on campus if a “substantial” assurance of safety could be provided by the FBI, the Naval Investigative Service and the San Diego Police Department.

The second contract would permit her to return “at the discretion of the headmaster.”

“The two alternative teacher agreements . . . are completely inadequate,” says the counterproposal, which was signed by attorney Patrick Shea, retained by Mrs. Rogers to deal with negotiations with the school. “Mrs. Rogers’ present contract clearly identifies her as a full-time fourth-grade teacher. That is also how she sees herself professionally.

“The proposed new agreements do not even preserve her for that postion. In fact, it is impossible to determine from the agreements what exact position she would hold at La Jolla Country Day School. This tortured attempt to define around the problem misses the point and is, in itself, somewhat dishonest.”

Shea said the counterproposal all but means that Mrs. Rogers has rejected the two teaching contracts offered earlier by the school.

“Completely inadequate are her words,” Shea said. “And I don’t see how you can construe that as meaning anything other than a rejection.”

However a source at the school said he did not interpret Mrs. Rogers’ counterproposal as a flat rejection of the school’s contract offers.

“Legally, they have not been rejected,” said the source, who asked not to be identified. “She still has them and could sign them whenever she wants to.”

The course also indicated that it might be difficult for the school to accept Mrs. Rogers counterproposal. The source said the five-year salary plan, described as a “buyout,” could be seen as unfair to the 66 other teachers at La Jolla Country Day who routinely sign one-year contracts and work at the pleasure of the headmaster.

‘Unfair to Everybody’

“It’s unfair to everybody,” the source said. “It doesn’t set any parameters. It doesn’t set any conditions. It doesn’t seem ‘do-able.’

“The point now is, Who’s being fair?”

But Shea denied that Rogers is proposing the five-year compensation plan as a way of punishing the school for its treatment of her. “It’s not a buyout,” he said.

Asked if the amount over five years would total $200,000, Shea would only say:

“It would be a substantial amount to her family budget. It’s not something she could afford to just walk away from.”

The counterproposal was given to members of the executive committee of the school’s board of trustees on Tuesday.

“My client is a fourth-grade teacher,” said Shea, who signed the counterproposal. “She’s one of their best teachers. She was a victim of a terrorist, violent act and it’s not her fault.

“She now wants to go back and be a fourth-grade teacher. That’s that she wants.”

Message to Terrorists

Her second goal, he said, is to send a message to terrorists that the American people won’t “allow them to destroy her career.”

The counterproposal states that the school must “immediately announce” her reinstatement as a fourth-grade teacher.

“It will additionally announce that, at her request, she will be on leave of absence with pay until the end of the (current) school year,” the counterproposal says.

“However both Mrs. Rogers and the school expect her to be back in the classroom September of next year.”

The counterproposal then discusses the five-year salary compensation plan.

That plan would would kick in if “the school, through its management, determines that there is a good-faith concern for the health and/or safety of the school community as a result of Mrs. Rogers teaching in the classroom and/or presence on campus,” according to the counterproposal.

The document also asks that the school pay for reasonable attorney fees and costs, not to exceed $5,000.

School officials have been hoping there is some resolution on her job status by April 14, the normal deadline for teachers to submit signed contracts for next school year.